EXTRAVAGANT GENEROSITY THE MARK OF GOSPEL BELIEVING PEOPLE
What Jesus said is true. Wherever the gospel is preached, the story of a woman’s extravagant generosity towards Jesus is told. A woman in Bethany came up to him with “an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment, and poured it on his head” (Matt.26:7) causing those in attendance to accuse her of waste. Yet, Jesus accepted her gift, rebuking her critics and declaring her offering a “beautiful thing.” The parallel reading for this story found in Mark 14:3-9, informs us that the ointment was worth nearly a year’s wages (300 denarii or 300 days wages). And this unnamed woman poured the whole thing out upon Jesus. What crazy love is this? What extravagant generosity? It is the only right response for those who have recognized and received Christ’s crazy, extravagant generosity towards us.
PRAYER: Dear Father, we give thanks for Your extravagant generosity towards us. You have given us life and all that we have. Even more, You have given us Your precious Son, Jesus, through whom we have been adopted into Your family. We pull our affections off of this world and put them upon You. We are determined to live a life of extravagant generosity as Your children, so that the gospel story includes us as well. In Jesus’ name, Amen.